psyo 334 ubco cognitive psych final exam study set

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the tip of the tongue phoenominon is a problem with the...

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Cognitive control is essential for doing what?

Purposeful goal-oriented behavior and decision making. ie, its the part of our brain that leads us to want to be successful in life.

what is the impact the amygdala and what it does with emotion on memory and learning?

The amygdala is not essential for learning. However, it does give it a lot more umph to whatever it is.

the mental lexicon is...

a mental store of information about words that includes semantic information (the words meanings) syntactic information (how the words are combined to form sentences) and the details of word forms (their spellings and sound patterns). basically your vocabulary.

how do muscles move?

alpha motor neurons innervate the muscle fibers causing them to contract and thus the muscles move.

most muscles are organized in a way that they are opposite to one another to contract whichever direction you want to move. what does an effector do in this case?

an effoctor is part of the body that can move so think of arms and legs or even your waist or neck.

what are the three parts to the amygdala and their functions?

basolateral nuclear complex - strengthens encoding, is esentially the gatekeeper of all information input. centromedial complex - enhanced top down attention and memory storage. the output region for behavioral and autonomic emotional responses. cortical nuclei - smallest complex contributing to olfactory memory. seeing as its primary input comes from the olfactory bulb and the olfactory cortex.

why is the hippocampus considered part of the limbic system still even though its much more associated with other cognitive functions?

because the model by maclean to describe emotion thought that the working memory of the hippocampus would be the instrumental part of emotion. this isnt the case and it's actually the amygdala that seems to be most likely.

language is located primarily in what regions in the brain along the sylvian fissure?

brocas area, the superior temporal gyrus, wernickes area and the angular gyrus.

what is speech apraxia?

deficits in the motor planning of articulations

what are descriptive decision theories?

descriptive decision theories attempt to describe what people actually do, not what they should do. ie why do we eat a doughnut when we're on a diet?

How does dopamine work with learning?

dopamine is released during pleasurable situations such as when you're learning. Its based off of expectancy so if you expect 100 dollars and get 300 you will be very happy and release a lot of dopamine. The way it works with learning is at first you will learn the largest amount of material. Not only that but you will have your dopamine receptors increase in excitatory and decrease in inhibitory receptors when something is reinforced as correct/pleasurable. The opposite happens to something that is incorrect and there will not only be less excitatory but more inhibitory receptors. That's how we learn.

possible short answer question. how do decisions we make use the integration and evaluation of multiple factors to find the choice outcome?

first is the external values such as quantity delay risk or cost. (basically the quantitative aspects of something) second is the internal values which are things like motivation, patients, risk attitude or ambiguity attitude (basically what do you FEEL is the better choice). from the internal and external factors after considering them they lead you to decide on which option you want to choose.

levelt's theory of language PRODUCTION is based on macroplanning and microplanning. what are these?

for microplanning the speaker proposes how the information is expressed which means adopting a perspective. ie finding out the information is expressed. with macroplanning they are trying to find out their goal for what they're saying. macroplanning, what you want to say microplanning, how you want to say it

what is frontal lobe syndrome and why is it a problem?

frontal lobe syndrome can be a myriad of different things, different areas of the frontal lobes lead to different problems. the frontal lobotomy was made by Moniz and was even used on John F Kennedy's sister. Damage to this area is just too unpredictable.

what are mirror neurons and how do they work?

mirror neurons are neurons in the premotor cortex and other areas that respond to an action both when that action is produced by an animal and when the animal observes a similar action produced by another animal. the mirror system has been hypothesized to be essential for comprehending the actions produced by other individuals. the engagement of the mirror system is modulated by motor expertise. they even respond if action is implied but not directly observed, so if i reach for a book on a book shelf someone will assume what im going to do next. further if they hear me doing something they will assume they know what im doing. autistic children may lack mirror neurons so in a way it might be why were human.

what did ramachandran say about mirror neurons?

mirror neurons will do for psychology what DNA did for biology.

there are three classes of models that attempt to explain word comprehension, the Modular models, interactive models and hybrid models. what are each of these?

modular models claim that normal language comprehension is executed within separate and independent modules ie higher level representations cannot influence lower level ones. interactive models maintain that all types of information can participate in word recognition. hybrid models say that lexical access is autonomous and not influenced by higher level information but that selection can be influenced by both sensory and higher level contextual information so that information is provided about word forms that are possible given the preceding context. so modular is the top-down idea, interactive is that there is no top down and finally hybrid is that there is a sense of top down but ALSO an interactive component to it as well.

people with damage to the frontal lobe may seem to be completely fine other than the fact that when taught something new even though they are told it may be incorrect they still dont realize it. this is called...

perseveration. ie, the car is blue, no its not blue. 5 mins later, the car is blue.

the left hemisphere is critical for language production however the right hemisphere does have roles in.the ___ of language

the left hemisphere is critical for language production however the right hemisphere does have roles in.the __Prosody_ of language

What is the high road and low road by Le Doux?

the low road is the faster projection which basically transfers crude information very quickly through the thalamus. the high road is slower than the low road but passes to the thalamus first and then to the amygdala. in this case it will be slower but much more detailed.

since we dont think of words from A to Z (like a computer might) we instead think of them organized in different ways. How does the Morpheme, phoneme, and semantic meaning contribute to finding words?

the morpheme is the main root words such as frost, defrost, frosted. further there might be related words like people and fledglings. the phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that makes a difference to the meaning. ie late and rate use l and r to differentiate their meanings. finally the semantic meaning is the relationships between words. so because words have relationships like truck being similar to teruck or something of the like. (think of people who debate and try to change the meaning of the word to fit their own)

possible short answer question. explain the functional architecture of the motor system with major neural structures partitioned into areas associated with the planning and execution of movement. possible short answer question. explain the functional architecture of the moster system with how the different structures contribute to the actions.

the person has an idea, it leads to the association cortex. from there it interactios with the basal ganglia, supplementary motor area, premotor cortex, and lateral cerebellum which all lead to the motor cortex. then the execution is the persons movement which is simultainiously being affected by the intermediate cerebellum and somatosensory input. the association cortex generates the actions of the goals. the basal ganglia switches between actions. the supplementary motor area deals with movement selection and learned patterns. the premotor cortex deals with movement selection and external stimulus information. the lateral cerebellum deals with preparation of movement patterns. the motor cortex deals with the activation of the muscles. the intermediate cerebellum deals with the correction of movement patterns.

the prosody of speech is...

the rhythm and pitch of the speakers voice

the hierarchical representation of action sequences are organized in a way that

the subcortical and cortical areas represent movement goals at verious levels of abstraction. so if a woman asks you to dance and you think, why yes. what follows is you will say youd love to, you will move your arm and your facial expression will change all at the same time. then you will stand up and go dance all in a hierarchical order.

what are normative decision theories?

theories in which we define how people ought to make decisions that yield the optimal choice ie. what an economist might predict.

possible short answer question. how does the wiring of the basal ganglia work?

there are both inhibitory and excitatory pathways that all interact in a decision making process. inputs from the cortex project to the striatum, from there it goes along the direct pathway that goes to the globus pallidus and the pars reticularis of substantia nigra. it also goes from the indirect pathway through the external segment of the globus pallidus and the subthalamic nucleus. they all then go to the thalamus which goes back to the cortex. from the cortex it goes to the brainstem and thus the basal ganglia acts like a loop that keeps questioning itself and making the best decision possible based on what is most important at the selection.

possible short answer question. what is the schematic representation of the components involved in spoken and written language comprehension. (how do people process language from spoken or written word)

there are two initial pathways, spoken >acoustic analysis>phonological input code>activation of auditory word form written>visual analysis>orthographic input code>photological input code and activation of visual word form then both pathways lead to... lexical access>lexical selection>grammatical and semantic specifications>conceptual activation>CONCEPT. essentially each one starts with figuring out what the word looks and sounds like. then it goes to the lexical library and picks out the grammar and concept of what the word actually means.

what are spinal inter neurons?

these are neurons in the spinal cord that are innervated by sensory nerves like the skin muscles and joins and also by upper motor neurons coming from the brain. so in a way muscles use both sensory feedback and brain feedback.

there are 12 cranial nerves in the brain stem that have to do with things like breathing and facial expressions. what are the motor pathways called that send direct projections down the spinal cord?

these are the vestibular nuclei, the reticular formation nuclei and the substantia nigra, and are referred to collectively as the extrapyramidal tracts, meaning they are a primary source of indirect control over spinal activity, modulating posture, muscle tone, and movement speed.

there are spindles in the muscles, what do these do when the muscle is stretched?

they provide information about the muscles being stretched, if its an unexpected stretch the alpha motor neuron is activated and the muscle will return to its original length. this is why doctors test your reflexes by hitting your knee with a mini hammer.

what is aphasia?

a broad term referring to the collective deficits in language conprehension and production that accompany neurological damage.

what is alexia?

a condition where people cant read words, this is due to damage in the left occipital lobe, the place where reading words apperently is most focused. they can still understand and hear/say everything else though. just not read.

what is global aphasia?

a devastating syndrome that results in the inability to both produce and comprehend language. (usually from damage to brocas area, wernickes area and everything inbetween them)

what is anomia?

The inability to find the words to label things in the world (it was the next place down from here, massachusetts? no further conneticut? yes and it was this far away -holds five fingers up)

what is a lemma?

a lemma is basically the property of a word that makes it a noun a verb, whether or not its a boy or girl. the conceptual or grammatical features that contain information in a word.

aphasia may be accompanied by dysarthria which is...

a loss of control over articulatory muscles. IE hard to make the words with your mouth.

what is the Wisconson Card Sorting Test and what is it used for?

WCST is a test used to assess abstraction ability and the ability to shift cognitive strategies in response to changing environmental contingencies. essentially people use strategic planning, organized searching, ability to profit from feedback, goal oriented behavior, and ability to manage impulsive responding. its useful in predicting how competent people are at everyday life and should be considered a multifactoral test that requires a distributed neural network for successful performance but by no means is it a "frontal lobe test"

if the ventral medial prefrontal cortex is concerned with value and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is associated with control, damage to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex will do what to someone who values doughnuts?

cause them to eat tons of doughnuts because they no longer have any control.

neurons within the spinal cord can generate an entire sequence of actions without any external feedback signal. these circuits are called what?

central pattern generators.

the white matter tract from wernickes area to brocas area is called the articulate faciculus and if damaged leads to...

conduction aphasia - they can understand words that they hear or see and can hear there own speech errors but cannot repair them.

what are three basic principles of the cerebellum ie what is important to remember for the test about it?

it has a modulating effect on motor function. it is ipsilateral so the left side of the cerebellum will affect the left side of the body. the midline areas of the cerebellum are responsible for the body and the lateral area are for structures removed from the mid line.

possible short answer question. the theory of speech production developed by levelt is where word production proceeds through stages of speaking. how does it go?

it starts with conceptual preparation in terms of lexical concepts> lexical concept > lexical selection > lemma > morphological encoding > morpheme > phonological encoding and syllabification > phonological word > phonetic encoding > phonetic gestural score > articulation > sound wave.

possible short answer question. how does motor control work in our brains from the start all the way to the output signals to muscles?

it starts with the premotor and supplementary motor cortex regions. Everything interacts together so it is not a serial, linear thing. it goes to the basal ganglia , cerebellum and motor cortex which all interact together however, the motor cortex and cerebellum moves on to the brainstem. finally the spinal cord will take input from the brainstem and cerebellum which then leads into the spinal cord which outputs commands to the muscles.

what is huntingtons disease and what kind of symptoms are there?

its a largely degenerative, genetic disease in which they have uncontrolled jerky movements, poor coordination, some form of dementia and may also have other psychotic symptoms.

what is parkinsons and what kind of symptoms are there?

its caused by dopaminergic brain cells being lost in pathways between the basal ganglia and substantia nigra. usually happens with they're 60+ years old. usually about 80% of their brain cells are lost before you even see symptoms. with parkinsons it disrupts posture as well as production and flexibility of voluntary movement.

where is the orbitofrontal cortex and what does it do?

its located just above the eyes and it is a big part of emotions specifically to do with regret. if someone regrets doing an activity chances are the next time it comes up they wont do it.

possible short answer question. what happens to the wiring of the basal ganglia for parkinsons disease

its the opposite to huntingtons in that it reduces the inhibitory activity along the direct pathway resulting in increase inhibition from the globus pallidus to the thalamus and that means an overall decrease in excitatory effect from the cortex to the spinal cord.

What are the 3 major subdivisions of the prefrontal cortex and what are they for?

lateral prefrontal - for cognitive control, working memory, selective attention and inhibition of prepotent responses. frontal pole - cognitive control, memory retrieval, hierarchical representation of action goals. medial frontal - cognitive control, error detection, and resolving conflicts.

what is lexical access, lexical selection and lexical integration?

lexical access refers to the stages of processing in which the output of perceptual analysis activates word form representations in the mental lexicon including their semantic and syntactic attributes lexical selection is the next stage where the lexical representation in the mental lexicon that best matches the input can be identified (selected) lexical integration integrates words into full sentences, discourse, or larger context ie grammar and syntax.

people with damage to wernickes area and have wernickes aphasia make errors in speech production known as...

semantic paraphasias. these are basically using the word horse when they mean cow. patients with deep dyslexia make similar errors in reading and will read horse where cow is written.

sound comprehension involves the ____ ____ cortex and damage to this area has pure word deafness

sound comprehension involves the __superior__ __temporal__ cortex and damage to this area has pure word deafness

with people who have agrammatic aphasia they will have trouble with understanding which sentence. the boy kicked the girl or the boy was kicked by the girl?

the boy was kicked by the girl because agrammatic aphasia is the inability to understand the more advanced forms of grammar.

what is the basal ganglia for and what are the 5 nuclei in it?

the caudate nucleus and putamen, the glubus pallidus, the subthalamic nucleus, the substantia nigra. these all play a critical role in motor control. the putamen and caudate are for receiving information, the globus pallidus is for output . the rest modify movement via loops in the cortical regions.

what does the cerebellum do for movement? and what are the 3 different parts to it?

the cerebellum basically modulates and helps to smooth out movement. the vestibulocerebellum works with the brainstem vestibular nuclei to control balance and coordinate eye movements with body movements. the spinocerebellum or middle region receives sensory information from the visual and auditory systems as we as proprioceptive information from the spinocerebellar tract. the neocerebellum is the outside region and is heavily innervated by descending fibers. this is responsible most for the smooth movements. if its damaged the person will have ataxia meaning trouble touching their nose in one smooth motion and will instead use jerky, tremourus movements. basically you have the vestibulocerebellum for balance, the spinocerebellum for information, and the neocerebellum for smoothness.

emotions are considered to be the limbic system. what structures are a part of the limbic system?

the corpus callosum, the cingulate gyrus, the thalamus, the hypothalamus, the hippocampus, the orbitofrontal cortex and finally the amygdala. basically if you think of the brain as layers you have the outside layer which is the rational part of your brain, the middle section which is the emotion part of the brain and finally the innermost part of the brain is the primitive survival parts of the mind.

what is collin and loftus' model of language being a semantic network?

the idea that words have a strong relationship to eachother semantically so for instance words like.. car truck bus firetruck ambulance transportation and street all are part of the same connection that may transition with things like firetruck being related to fire, red, big, or loud. it works based off of nodes.

what is wernickes aphasia?

the inability to understand language comprehension (its the part of language production at the back part of the superior temporal gyrus)

spoken word recognition porcessing proceeds anteriorly in the superior temporal gyrus and phoneme processing appears localized in the left mid superior temporal gyrus. this is where what happens?

the integration of phonemes into words and short phrases which appears to be carried out in most anterior locations of the superior temporal sulcus.

possible short answer question. what happens to the wiring of the basal ganglia for huntings disease?

with huntingtons disease they have less inhibitory pathways along the indirect pathway from the striatum to the external segment of the global pallidus. this leads to an increase in excitatory effect from the cortex to the spinal cord.

what is the difference between working memory and associative memory?

with working memory its the exact short term memory of something ie, its where the foods location is. Associative memory on the other hand is an alternative meaning that may point to where the food is, ie the monkey chooses the plus sign instead of the circle because the plus sign is associated with food.

What would happen if you had damage to the Orbito frontal cortex?

you end up being disinhibited, having social inappropriateness, with poor decision making and decreased mental flexibility.